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How to remove everything after a character in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| alice@example.com |
| bob@company.org |
| carol@domain.net |
| david@mail.co |
=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)→alice
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Step by step
- 1Identify the character you want to split on — for example '@' or ','.
- 2Use FIND("@",A2) to get the position of that character.
- 3Subtract 1 so you exclude the character itself from the result.
- 4Wrap in LEFT: =LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1) returns everything before the character.
- 5Add IFERROR around it to handle cells where the delimiter is absent: =IFERROR(LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1),A2).
Tips
- To remove everything after the LAST occurrence of a character (when it appears multiple times), replace FIND with a last-occurrence pattern using SUBSTITUTE and REPT.
Need it for your exact data?
Describe your columns in plain English and get the precise formula for your sheet, with the right Excel or Sheets syntax.
Frequently asked
What if the character doesn't appear in the cell?
FIND returns #VALUE!, so wrap the whole formula in IFERROR(…,A2) to return the original text unchanged.
Is FIND case-sensitive?
Yes, FIND is case-sensitive. Use SEARCH instead of FIND if you need case-insensitive matching.
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